This is a prompting Blog

My intent here is to write a poem from the prompt I give to you , the reader, in hopes that it will inspire something and get others to write with me.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Today's Prompt is Cinqku

CINQKU is a fixed-form five line tanka/cinquain image poem without a title in 17 syllables,concise with a surprise or turn in lines 4/5. The form was created by Denis Garrison,an American poet.
In the examples I found several wonderfully written poems, the main rule is that there are no five syllable counted lines,( 2,3,4,6,2 is the common usage of the syllable count)
But our main rule is to have fun !!!

OURS IS...

Homeless
Winter day
Driving cold snow
and what if it were you
freezing ?

I’ve stood on the edge of that black abyssFull of self-hate and despair,Wondering how I got there,What evil did I do to get like this?But my heart would tell me I’d been remissAnd my memory show whereI’d done wrong and been unfairShowing me scenes I could not dismiss.I could remember everything I’d done wrong,That cannot be changed however much I longTo go back for the tide of time is too strong,I could not return, so never could belong.

So I lived behind a shield of make-believeA mask covered my faceA smile fixed there in placeWhile inside I would hide and there I would grieveTrying to find a way to quietly leaveAnd with a little graceVanish without a trace,From my presence I would everyone relieve.For I knew that everything I did was bad,And the troubles that my friends and family hadFor I knew within my soul they’d not be sadSo my resolution then was ironclad.

For I alone knew that I was just a lie,The was nothing insideThe mask I’d used to hideAnd what I’d been so long before had died.I was a child who’d not be one who criedI’d hid my hurts down deepSecrets that I would keepHidden from the people who laugh and deride.For my family was complete before I came,I was the accidental child, not my blameBut my siblings made sure I knew all the same,Somehow leaving me with only thoughts of shame.

I knew my mother loved me but I felt sureI wasn’t good enoughMy efforts were too roughI could not reach her standards so obscureWhile my father seemed determined to ensureI met only rebuffWith grunts and answers gruffI knew my faults were too many for a cure.I was a failure in almost every way,Too young, too small, things I could not gainsayWhile my best efforts would always go astray,No friends were allowed to visit or to play.

School ensured I knew that I was out of placeMy background was too poor,That school was really forThe upper middle-class not for the common place.I learnt that I was worthless and very base.Intelligence for sureWas no reason forSome-one like me to stay within their embrace.I stuck it out for I refused to give in.I was determined that this time I would win.But the slights struck hard and stuck beneath my skinI made it but the cost wore my soul so thin.

If you damage the chrysalis when it’s spunWhen the ButterflyDoes not quickly dieIts life is crippled before it had begun.And so it is the child cannot outrunEven when they tryTo find the reason why Childhood damage lasts lifelong when it is done.My mask grew up but I remained a young kidProjecting confidence with all I then did,Letting no-one close gently slidInside my shield and hated the thing it hid.

Then someone died while I was in charge that day.Investigation,A long duration,There was nothing I could have done they say.My head knows that it’s true, that there was no wayThe condemnation,My hearts creation,That I should have stopped it should hold any sway.But the emotions of the heart over-ruleThe cold logic that is the brains only tool.The brain is kind but the heart is very cruelWhen you truly believe that you’re a lying fool.

So I’ve stood on the edge of that abyss.Feeling death call meHoping I will seeIf not absolution then release from this.Held back by a fear I just could not dismissThat there just might beAn afterlife were weAre forced to acknowledge all we’ve done amiss.I feared death as much as I hated my lifeAlthough each day was tortured by my hearts knife,Torn apart by my internal mental strife,Shredded by the doubts and fears that were so rife.

I stepped back from the edge, I still don’t know whyAnd I asked for aid,With a call I made,I found it and the finding at last let me cry.I was broken but kind people helped me tryTo at last let fadeThe cell I had madeThat prison mask I made and did occupy.Now I am growing up at last and learningTo handle the new things I am discerning,To accept the praises that I am earning,While long held preconceptions overturning.

You inspired me to try again JL. I've wanted to write this but your epic verse gave me the push.

The first verse of part 2 isn't right though, it should have read:If you damage the chrysalis when it’s spunWhen the ButterflyDoes not quickly dieIts life is crippled before it had begun.And so it is the child cannot outrunEven when they tryTo find the reason whyChildhood damage lasts lifelong when it is done.My mask grew up but I remained a young kidProjecting confidence with all I then did,Letting no-one close in case they gently slidInside my shield and hated the thing it hid.